Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was kicked as he entered the Taipei District Court yesterday to defend himself in a defamation lawsuit filed by personnel connected to the purchase of Lafayette frigates in 1990.
Lee Chin-tien (李金田), director of the Taipei City Police Department’s Zhongzheng First Precinct, said that as Chen entered the district court with security guards at 9:45am, a 65-year-old man named Su An-sheng (蘇安生) managed to get close enough to kick Chen in the hip.
Su was held by security guards and police officers arrested him and took him to a police station for questioning, Lee said.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
The officer said that Su is a member of the pro-unification Patriot Association (愛國同心會).
He added that Su would be charged with causing bodily harm if Chen filed a lawsuit against him.
In the meantime, the Taipei District Court has detained Su for three days for violating the Social Order and Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法). Su can appeal the decision.
After the hearing, Chen went to the National Taiwan University Hospital, which said he may have suffered a fractured tailbone.
Chen’s appearance at the court marked the first time that a former president has been subpoenaed as a defendant in a criminal case.
Retired vice admiral and former chief of the Navy’s Shipbuilding Office Lei Hsueh-ming (雷學明), retired rear admiral Wang Chin-sheng (王琴生) and three others filed the suit against Chen, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator William Lai (賴清德) and former DPP legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) for allegedly claiming that Lei and the others accepted kickbacks in connection with the purchase of Lafayette-class frigates.
“The kickback scandal involving Lei Hsueh-ming and other generals has been pending in court and has been under prosecutorial investigation, and legal officials have not made a clear case for the nation. This scandal is so big, but the people related to the case said there is no scandal at all. Can you believe it?” Chen said before leaving the court.
Chen said it was ridiculous that the scandal had not been cleared up even as he and two DPP legislators were facing new legal action.
Lei yesterday told the judges that he did not take any money during the frigate procurement process and that Chen and the DPP lawmakers’ accusations were groundless.
Chen told the court he had simply questioned the flow of money and never alleged Lei or others had taken cash.
Chen said at a public function in December 2005 that Lei and several Naval officials had produced false performance data on Lafayette frigates and inflated the price of the vessels to manipulate the Navy’s 1990 purchase of frigates from France instead of from South Korea as planned.
Chen said that after 1990, a sum of US$20 million was discovered in a bank account held by Lei, and that this was proof of graft.
Lei then filed a suit against him.
Taipei prosecutors said the plan in 1988 had been to purchase frigates made in South Korea. The Republic of China Navy, however, in 1990 instead chose to purchase French-made Lafayette frigates, following a trip to France in 1989 by several military officials led by Lei.
A prosecutorial panel in 2001 indicted Lei and five other military officials for graft, accusing them of issuing false performance data for the frigates and inflating the price.
Both former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and former chief of general staff Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) were summoned as witnesses in a related trial in May after Lei told prosecutors that he had received instructions from his “superior” to purchase the French frigates, but did not state clearly whether it was the former president or Hau who gave the directive.
Andrew Wang (汪傳浦), the key suspect in the kickback scandal, fled the country following the murder of Navy Captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓) in 1993. Yin is believed to have been about to blow the whistle on colleagues taking kickbacks. Wang was charged in absentia with murder, corruption, money laundering and fraud.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) urged the public yesterday to remain calm and refrain from saying or doing anything that would cause unrest or incite political confrontation.
It was unfortunate that democratic elections had split the country and led to grudges, adding that the KMT was against any words or actions that bring social unrest or political confrontation, he said.
“We would like to see people cool down,” he said. “It is time for us to take a break, heal the wounds and focus our attention on improving the economy.”
He said that in a civilized society, every citizen was entitled to the freedom of speech, but any form of violence would not be tolerated.
Meanwhile, the DPP’s Taipei office condemned the breach in Chen’s security.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Chou Po-ya (周柏雅) asked President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to respond and for his administration to deal with the matter.
Describing himself as “saddened,” “surprised,” “angered” and “concerned” by what had happened, Chou said that no one had the right to treat other people violently, regardless of that person’s politics.
Chou said the National Security Bureau had done a poor job of protecting Chen’s safety and described the assault as a humiliation for democracy and human rights. He also expressed concern for society as a whole, which he described as being characterized by anti-democracy and disrespect for human rights.
The National Security Bureau apologized to Chen in a press release at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and demanded that a special task force conduct a review of the incident.
The bureau said Chen had been pushed by the crowd.
After being informed of the incident, bureau Director Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明) immediately checked with Chang Chun-po (張春波), the security department chief at the presidential residence, for details.
Tsai said that Chen had changed his route at the last minute and got out of the car at the main gate of the court on Boai Road, thus leading to a confrontation with the protesters.
Additional reporting by CNA and Flora Wang
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